Telfair Museums seeks new leader after year of ‘self-inflicted’ wounds

Before Thanksgiving approximately a dozen of Savannah’s most dedicated arts patrons gathered for a crisis meeting about the Telfair Museums.

Six months earlier, the fundraising staff had quit amid allegations of a toxic workplace. The longtime chief financial officer left soon after, and the director was suffering health issues. Facing steep revenue losses, the organization’s board decided to cut staff by 15%.  

As the Telfair’s biggest supporters gather for its annual ball this weekend, Georgia’s oldest public art museum is looking to hire its fifth leader in seven years, rebuild trust in the community and recalibrate the institution into the future. 

While conceding that the museum will continue to face headwinds in 2026, board chair Susan Willetts is optimistic about the board’s course corrections, including investments in new revenue opportunities, after what she called “self-inflicted” wounds last year.

In a year when many museums across the nation faced financial struggles, admissions at the Telfair plummeted by more than 25% and donations from the Telfair’s membership tiers declined by 3% largely due to the missing development team, according to a person familiar with the situation. The Telfair’s 2025 revenue was only slightly below the $9.9 million reported in 2024, however, because of higher-than-expected investment income from its endowment, that person said. 

“Is the Telfair in distress? No,” said Willetts, a retired Goldman Sachs partner who is overseeing museum operations as interim director while the executive search is underway. “We have amazing, dedicated staff. We have an engaged board. We have people across the community calling to ask how they can help.” 

Others are not so sure. Three former board members and four former longtime employees who spoke to The Current say years of upheaval have weakened the institution’s standing in Savannah. Getting the Telfair’s house in order goes beyond hiring a new leader, they say, and instead requires a better understanding of the town the museum wants to represent and the fractured and changing art scenes. 

Telfair Museums encompass three buildings and three experiences — the Jepson Center for the Arts, which houses classical and modern art; the Owens-Thomas House & Slave Quarters, which offers insights into American architecture and interiors for enslaved people as well as slave owners; and the Telfair Academy. 

In the mid-2010s, former executive director Lisa Grove put the Telfair on the national map for its pioneering research into Savannah’s slave-owning past, and for centering a museum experience that helped residents and visitors alike understand the horrors of slavery, rather than just Coastal Georgia’s beauty.

Under her six-year tenure, the museum had consecutive years of operating surpluses, even while expanding operations and programming costs. When she left in 2018 for the Obama Foundation, the Telfair’s elite tier of major giving known as the Director’s Circle had increased 60%, and museum attendance, admissions revenue and memberships each had grown 50%, according to the Telfair board chair at the time, Ted Kleisner. 

That financial momentum continued in 2019. That year’s ball, considered the top social destination for many of the area’s wealthiest residents, is still discussed around town. More than 500 revelers — the museum’s top donors and their friends — enjoyed dance and opera performances, amid prancing pink ponies and fire-breathing acrobats. The event raised approximately $1 million, which was 10% of the Telfair’s revenue of $9.9 million reported that year.

The annual party illustrates the conundrum facing the Telfair. As one of the most visible symbols of the museum, the balls cement opinion across Savannah that the institution is aloof and elitist. The institution, however, praises them as the mechanism to fund educational programming like public school field trips, one of the only chances many Savannahians can see art, as the museum’s $30 admission cost is beyond their parents’ reach.

The balls, however, also have been avenues that reveal some of the organization’s own internal dysfunction. 

At the 2024 event, Ben Simons, the executive director at the time, had shouting matches that veered from personal disagreements to disputes about spending with some top local donors, according to six attendees. Simons resigned shortly afterward, with the museum offering no reason for the departure. Simons did not respond to requests for comment.

The board quickly hired another director, David Brenneman, but some senior staff said he was unwilling to heed their advice about donor stewardship and community relations. “It’s the peril of hiring from the outside. If you don’t know Savannah, and if you think you know better than us, you are shooting yourself in the foot,” said one former employee, who spoke anonymously due to a nondisclosure agreement signed when she left the museum. Brenneman did not respond to requests for comment.

In early 2025, the Telfair’s marketing director, one of the few staff members of color, departed. Veteran development team members and other staff followed soon after, essentially leaving the Telfair with no functioning fundraising. 

When longtime CFO Joey Rudder resigned in the summer to take a new job in Florida, the Telfair was facing a perfect storm, said one board member. 

Yet, the board, many of whom leave Coastal Georgia in the summer, did not move swiftly to fill those positions. It’s a strategy that one current Telfair board member not authorized to speak publicly about the internal discussions said was regrettable. “The priority was stopping the bleeding,” the person said.

By Thanksgiving, the board faced hard decisions. Operational costs at the historic properties run by the Telfair are difficult to trim, especially with attendance numbers flagging so badly. Staffing costs were the only short-term viable option to cut losses, Willetts said.

The Telfair announced the layoffs in January, causing more alarm among donors, as well as staff. The cuts centered on one of the most loved innovations of the Telfair experience: the highly interactive docents who help museum visitors understand and appreciate exhibits and history, especially in the Owens-Thomas House. Brenneman stepped down a week later, citing health reasons.

Willetts said that the board accepted responsibility for the instability at the top of the organization over the recent years. At the fall board retreat, the directors decided to amend the organization’s by-laws to increase the tenure of the board chair to a maximum of six years, rather than the two years, the board member said. 

Also at the retreat, the board approved new fundraising positions, with a focus on building more foot traffic among Savannah’s large contingent of conventioneers and tour bus groups. 

Willetts, who has served on the Telfair board for approximately a decade, is in her second year as chair. She said 2026 will be challenging, as the museum absorbs costs of staff restructuring. “You don’t just flip the switch. You need to invest. You want to build the staff. You put the infrastructure in place,” she said.

Looking ahead to the weekend, approximately 350 tickets have been sold for the ball, which matches the average for the last five years. A parallel fundraising dinner held at The Landings on the same night has sold around 80 tickets, about two-thirds the number as 2025, according to two others. Willetts said the ball and other related events are expected to be at capacity.

Meanwhile, it’s not clear how long the search will take for the new executive director. Unlike previous hiring processes, the recruitment firm will be holding closed door listening sessions with donors, staff and members of the wider community to hear what kind of candidate these various groups believe will help the organization’s success, Willetts said. 

As well, the recruitment firm will try to assess how candidates react under stress, an insight that the board believes will also help them choose a candidate capable of leading the institution for years to come. 

Vision and artistic strategy are important, Willets said, but so are staff management and community relations. “The board is 100% aligned on this search,” Willets said. “No one is going to hit the final round without hitting all three.”